A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court by Bombay Lawyers’ Association (BLA) seeking a review of the court’s recent judgment dismissing the demand for an independent investigation into the death of CBI judge BH Loya.

At the time of his death, in December 2014, Loya was presiding over the CBI court hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, in which BJP president Amit Shah was one of the main accused.

The judgment came out on April 19 this year, wherein a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud rejected a bunch of petitions filed by Tehseen Poonawalla, Bandhuraj Lone and others to seek a probe into judge Loya’s death.

The 114-page judgment, authored by Justice Chandrachud, observed that the actions of the petitioners were an attempt to “malign the judiciary”. “There is no merit in the writ petitions, judge Loya’s death was natural,” LiveLaw quoted the bench as saying.

The review petition objects to this observation and claims that the main petitioners were only trying to protect the integrity of the judiciary.

The BLA petition reads: “The present review petition seeks to neither sensationalise the subject matter of the petition nor make a veiled attempt to launch a frontal attack on the independence of the judiciary or to dilute the credibility of judicial institutions. Also, no attempt is being made to create prejudice or malign the dignity of the judges whose statements form part of the inquiry or those who gave the press interviews on the matter during the period of the inquiry.”

Advocate Ahmed Abdi, president of Bombay Lawyers’ Association, said: “We have pointed out several things which the court did not appreciate. Accordingly, we have sought recalling of the judgment by which our prayer for independent probe was rejected. This review petition is likely to be taken up for hearing in July, when the apex court re-opens.”